Local wireless connectivity for radio equipment of a base station in a cellular communications network

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to local wireless connectivity for a radio equipment of a base station in a cellular communications network. In one embodiment, the radio equipment includes a radio subsystem that transmits and receives radio signals for the cellular communications network, a local wireless interface, and a controller associated with the local wireless interface that is configured to provide access to a maintenance subsystem of the radio equipment via the local wireless interface. Remote access to the maintenance subsystem of the radio equipment via the local wireless interface allows maintenance operations to be performed without the need to physically connect to the radio equipment via a wired connection, which is difficult in many installations.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to radio equipment of a base station in acellular communications network and more particularly relates to localwireless connectivity for a radio equipment of a base station in acellular communications network.

BACKGROUND

Cellular communications networks include tens to hundreds of basestations installed at various locations. Two conventional installationsare illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates aconventional tower-top mounted installation 10 of a base station. Asillustrated, the base station includes a Remote Radio Equipment (RRE) 12connected to a Radio Equipment Controller (REC) 14. The RRE 12 ismounted at a top of a tower 16 and located between 0 to 20 kilometers(km) from the REC 14. The RRE 12 transmits downlink radio signals andreceives uplink radio signals from wireless devices, such as a wirelessdevice (WD) 18, located within a coverage area of the RRE 12. Thecoverage area of the RRE 12 may be a cell served by the base station ora sector of a cell served by the base station. In this example, the basestation is a macro or high power base station where the coverage area ofthe RRE 12 extends from 0 to 10 km from the tower 16. FIG. 2 illustratesa conventional roof-top mounted installation 20 of the base station. Inthis example, the base station includes two RREs 12 connected to the REC14. However, in the roof-top mounted installation 20, the RREs 12 aremounted at the top of a building 22, and the REC 14 is located in thebasement or cellar of the building 22.

One issue with conventional base station installations such as those ofFIGS. 1 and 2 is that the RRE(s) 12 is(are) difficult to reach whenmaintenance is needed. More specifically, in tower-top mountedinstallations, the RRE(s) 12 is(are) located at the top of the tower 16at a height that is typically in the range of 20 to 100 meters (m). Assuch, when maintenance or field support personnel need to connect to theRRE(s) 12 to perform maintenance operations, the personnel may need toarrange access to the property on which the tower 16 is located and mustthen climb the tower 16. This is of course time consuming and expensiveand creates a significant amount of risk of physical injury to thepersonnel and potential liability of the cellular communications networkoperator. Similarly, in roof-top mounted installations, the RRE(s) 12is(are) located at the top of the building 22. As such, when maintenanceor field personnel need to connect to the RRE(s) 12 to performmaintenance operations, the personnel must typically arrange access tothe roof-top of the building 22 and potentially climb a mast mounted tothe roof-top of the building 22. Again, this is of course time consumingand expensive and creates a significant amount of risk of physicalinjury to the personnel and potential liability of the cellularcommunications network operator. As such, there is a need for systemsand methods that provide easy and efficient access to RREs formaintenance and field support personnel.

Another issue that arises with respect to installation of base stationsrelates to subsequent location and identification of RREs. Morespecifically, mobile data traffic is exploding at a 60% rate of increaseevery year. In order to meet this demand, small, or low power, basestations (e.g., micro and pico base stations) can be used, particularlyin areas with very dense usage. It is desirable to scatter large numbersof small base stations in order to provide high data rates to a largenumber of users. As an example, FIG. 3 illustrates a number of smallbase stations, where each small base station includes three RREs (sRREs)24 each serving a different sector 26 of a cell 28 served by the smallbase station. When these small base stations are scattered and used inlarge numbers, it is difficult to manage the locations and identities ofthe sRREs 24 of the small base stations. For instance, in an extremecase, the sRREs 24 for the small base stations are deployed in atemporary ad-hoc network to provide increased capacity for, as anexample, a sporting event or a conference. As illustrated in FIG. 4, ina typical installation, each sRRE 24 includes a remote radio unit 30 andan antenna 32 mounted on a pole 34, or mast.

During network planning and inventory, it is necessary to associateparticular sRREs 24 with corresponding planned physical locations forthe sRREs 24. However, when installing the sRREs 24, particularly for atemporary ad-hoc network, the physical locations at which the sRREs 24are actually installed, or deployed, may not match the planned physicallocations for the sRREs 24. Similarly, the actual sRRE 24 deployed at aphysical location may not match the sRRE 24 planned for that physicallocation. This may occur due to, for example, human error and/or on-siteadjustments made by field support personnel. Thereafter, when problemsarise, the maintenance or field support personnel may not be able tolocate and identify a particular sRRE 24 to perform corrective action ina timely manner. Further, even when the physical location of an sRRE 24is found, multiple sRREs 24 are oftentimes installed at the samephysical location in order to cover different sectors of the same cell28, in which case the maintenance or field support personnel cannoteasily identify the particular sRRE 24 of interest. As such, there isalso a need for systems and methods that enable easy and accuratelocation and identification of deployed sRREs.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to local wireless connectivity for aradio equipment of a base station in a cellular communications network.In one embodiment, the radio equipment includes a radio subsystem thattransmits and receives radio signals for the cellular communicationsnetwork, a local wireless interface, and a controller associated withthe local wireless interface that is configured to provide access to amaintenance subsystem of the radio equipment via the local wirelessinterface. Remote access to the maintenance subsystem of the radioequipment via the local wireless interface allows maintenance operationsto be performed without the need to physically connect to the radioequipment via a wired connection, which is difficult in manyinstallations.

In one embodiment, a local wireless connection is established betweenthe radio equipment and a wireless device, and the radio equipmentprovides access to the maintenance subsystem of the radio equipment forthe wireless device via the local wireless connection. In oneembodiment, the controller establishes the local wireless connection tothe wireless device via the local wireless interface of the radioequipment. In one particular embodiment, the controller establishes thelocal wireless connection to the wireless device by connecting to ahotspot hosted by the wireless device. In another embodiment, thecontroller establishes a hotspot wherein the wireless device establishesthe local wireless connection to the radio equipment by connecting tothe hotspot.

In one embodiment, in order to provide access to the maintenancesubsystem of the radio equipment, the controller receives a request fromthe wireless device via the local wireless connection and, in response,performs one or more actions indicated by the maintenance request.

In another embodiment, the controller receives a physical location ofthe wireless device via the local wireless connection and stores thephysical location of the wireless device as a physical location of theradio equipment.

In one embodiment, a wireless device includes a local wireless interfaceand a controller associated with the local wireless interface that isconfigured to access a maintenance subsystem of a radio equipment of abase station of cellular communications network via the local wirelessinterface. Remote access to the maintenance subsystem of the radioequipment via the local wireless interface allows an operator of thewireless device to perform maintenance operations without the need tophysically connect to the radio equipment via a wired connection, whichis difficult in many installations.

In one embodiment, the controller accesses the maintenance subsystem ofthe radio equipment via a local wireless connection established betweenthe wireless device and the radio equipment via the local wirelessinterface. In one particular embodiment, the controller creates ahotspot via the local wireless interface, and the local wirelessconnection is a connection made to the hotspot by the radio equipment.In another embodiment, the controller controls the local wirelessinterface of the wireless device to connect to a hotspot hosted by theradio equipment.

In one embodiment, the controller accesses the maintenance subsystem ofthe radio equipment by sending a maintenance request to the maintenancesubsystem of the radio equipment via the local wireless connection.

In another embodiment, the controller obtains a physical location of thewireless device and sends the physical location of the wireless deviceto the maintenance subsystem of the radio equipment as a physicallocation of the radio equipment via the local wireless interface. Stillfurther, in one embodiment, the wireless device updates a remotedatabase to include the physical location of the wireless device as thephysical location of the radio equipment and, in some embodiments, aunique identifier of the radio equipment such as, for example, a MediaAccess Control (MAC) address of a local wireless interface of the radioequipment. Updating the remote database in this manner enablesmaintenance or field support personnel to quickly and accurately locateand identify the radio equipment.

In another embodiment, a wireless device includes a local wirelessinterface and a controller associated with the local wireless interfacethat is configured to obtain a unique identifier of a radio equipment ofa base station of a cellular communications network via the localwireless interface, obtain a physical location of the wireless device,and update a remote database to include the unique identifier of theradio equipment of the base station and the physical location of thewireless device as a physical location of the radio equipment. In oneembodiment, the unique identifier of the radio equipment is a MACaddress of a local wireless interface of the radio equipment. Updatingthe remote database in this manner enables maintenance or field supportpersonnel to quickly and accurately locate and identify the radioequipment.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentdisclosure and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of thedisclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates one conventional installation of a base stationincluding a Radio Equipment Controller (REC) and Remote Radio Equipment(RRE);

FIG. 2 illustrates another conventional installation of a base stationincluding an REC and an RRE;

FIG. 3 illustrates a number of small, or low power, RREs that serve acoverage area within a cellular communications network;

FIG. 4 illustrates one conventional installation of a small, or lowpower, RRE;

FIG. 5 illustrates a cellular communications network in which a localwireless connection is utilized to enable a wireless device to remotelyaccess a maintenance subsystem of an RRE of a base station according toone embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of one of the base stations of FIG. 5 wherethe base station includes an RRE having a local wireless interface thatprovides remote access to the maintenance subsystem of the RRE accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the wireless device of FIG. 5 that includesan RRE Maintenance Tool (RRE-MT) and a local wireless interface thatenables the RRE-MT to remotely access the maintenance subsystem of theRRE of one of the base stations of FIG. 5 according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a hotspot hosted by the wireless device of FIG. 5 toenable local wireless access to the maintenance subsystem of the RRE ofone of the base stations of FIG. 5 according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the wireless device and the RRE ofone of the base stations of FIG. 5 to provide remote access to themaintenance subsystem of the base station according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a number of small, or low power, RREs serving acoverage area within a cellular communications network wherein the smallRREs are equipped with local wireless interfaces that enable remoteaccess to the small RREs via local wireless communication according toone embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of a wireless device and one of thesmall RREs of FIG. 10 to determine and store a physical location of thesmall RRE according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates the operation of the wireless device to locate adesired one of the small RREs of FIG. 10 using a previously determinedand stored physical location of the desired small RRE according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 13 is one example of a graphical user interface of the wirelessdevice of FIG. 10 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments andillustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading thefollowing description in light of the accompanying drawing figures,those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosureand will recognize applications of these concepts not particularlyaddressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts andapplications fall within the scope of the disclosure and theaccompanying claims.

The present disclosure relates to local wireless connectivity for aradio equipment of a base station in a cellular communications network.In this regard,

FIG. 5 illustrates a cellular communications network 36 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. In this particular embodiment, thecellular communications network 36 is a 3^(rd) Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular communications networkand, as such, some of the terminology used herein may be specific to3GPP LTE cellular communications networks. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited to 3GPP LTE cellular communications networks.Rather, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be utilized in anytype of cellular communications network.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the cellular communications network 36includes a Radio Access Network (RAN), which includes base stations(BSs) 38-1 and 38-2 (more generally referred to herein collectively asbase stations 38 and individually as base station 38) that servecorresponding cells 40-1 and 40-2 (more generally referred to hereincollectively as cells 40 and individually as cell 40) of the cellularcommunications network 36. In one embodiment, the base stations 38-1 and38-2 are macro base stations (e.g., eNodeBs in a 3GPP LTE cellularcommunications network). In another embodiment, one or more of the basestations 38-1 and 38-2 are small, or low power, base stations (e.g.,micro or pico base stations in a 3GPP heterogeneous cellularcommunications network). A small base station transmits at lower powerlevels than a large base station. For example, in one embodiment, smallbase stations transmit at power levels of less than 5 Watts (W).

The base station 38-1 serves mobile terminals, such as a mobile terminal(MT) 42-1, as well as other types of cellular network enabled devices(e.g., a computer equipped with a cellular network interface) located inthe cell 40-1. As such, the base station 38-1 is referred to herein as aserving base station 38-1 of the mobile terminal 42-1. In a similarmanner, the base station 38-2 serves mobile terminals, such as a mobileterminal 42-2, as well as other types of cellular network enableddevices located in the cell 40-2. As such, the base station 38-2 isreferred to herein as a serving base station 38-2 of the mobile terminal42-2. The mobile terminals 42-1 and 42-2 are generally referred toherein as mobile terminals 42. While only two base stations 38-1 and38-2 and two mobile terminals 42-1 and 42-2 are illustrated in FIG. 5for clarity and ease of discussion, it will be readily appreciated thatthe cellular communications network 36 includes numerous base stations38 and numerous mobile terminals 42.

The cellular communications network 36 also includes a core network 44that includes one or more Serving Gateways (S-GWs) 46 and one or moreMobility Management Entities (MMEs) 48. In LTE, the base stations 38-1and 38-2 are connected to the same or different S-GWs 46 viacorresponding S1-u connections and connected to the same or differentMMEs 48 via corresponding S1-c connections. Similarly, in thisembodiment, the base stations 38-1 and 38-2 may be connected to oneanother via an X2 connection. The S-GWs 46 are user plane nodesconnecting the core network 44 to the RAN. Among other things, the S-GWs46 serve as mobility anchors when mobile terminals, such as the mobileterminals 42-1 and 42-2, move between cells as well as mobility anchorsfor other 3GPP technologies (e.g., Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and High SpeedPacket Access (HSPA)). The MMEs 48 are control plane nodes of the corenetwork 44. The responsibilities of the MMEs 48 includeconnection/release of bearers to mobile terminals, handling of idle toactive transitions, and handling of security keys.

As discussed below in detail, some or all of the base stations 38 areequipped with local wireless interfaces that enable local wirelessconnectivity to nearby wireless devices in order to enable remote accessto maintenance subsystems of the base stations 38. As used here, a“local wireless interface” is a wireless interface that enablescommunication via a local wireless connection. Further, a “localwireless connection” is direct point-to-point wireless connectionbetween two devices. Some examples of a local wireless interface areIEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, and 802.11n wirelessinterfaces. In this illustrated example, a wireless device (WD) 50 isenabled to remotely access a maintenance subsystem of a radio equipmentof the base station 38-1 via a local wireless connection between theradio equipment of the base station 38-1 and the wireless device 50. Inthis manner, an operator, or user, of the wireless device 50 (e.g., amaintenance or field support person) is enabled to access themaintenance subsystem of the base station 38-1 without the need to climba tower and/or access rental property. In addition or alternatively, thelocal wireless connection enables maintenance or field support personnelto quickly and easily locate and identify base stations 38 of interest,as discussed below in detail. The wireless device 50 may be any type ofdevice having a local wireless interface such as, for example, anotebook computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, or the like.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that illustrates one of the base stations 38of FIG. 5 in more detail according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. In this embodiment, the base station 38 includes a RadioEquipment Controller (REC) 52 and a Remote Radio Equipment (RRE) 54.Notably, as used herein, a Radio Equipment (RE) is a general term thatencompasses both RREs and REs that are co-located with theircorresponding RECs, whereas an RRE is a RE that is physically separatedfrom the corresponding REC (i.e., a separate device that is separatedfrom the REC by some distance). The RRE 54 may be installed on a tower,on a roof-top of a building, or the like, and the REC 52 is physicallyseparated from the RRE 54 by some distance. The distance between the REC52 and the RRE 54 may be, for example, a distance up to about 20kilometers (km). In this example, the REC 52 and the RRE 54 areconnected by a fiber optic cable and communicate over the fiber opticcable according to the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI)specification. While not essential for understanding the conceptsdisclosed and claimed herein, for more information regarding the CPRIspecification, the interested reader is directed to the CPRISpecification v5.0 published on Sep. 21, 2011.

As illustrated, the REC 52 includes a processing subsystem 56 and a CPRIinterface 58. The processing subsystem 56 generally operates to performbaseband processing for the base station 38. In particular embodiments,the processing subsystem 56 may comprise, for example, one or severalgeneral-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors or othermicrocontrollers programmed with suitable software and/or firmware tocarry out some or all of the functionality of the REC 52. In addition oralternatively, the processing subsystem 56 may comprise various digitalhardware blocks (e.g., one or more Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), one or more off-the-shelf digital and analog hardwarecomponents, or a combination thereof) configured to carry out some orall of the functionality of the REC 52. Additionally, in particularembodiments, the functionality of the REC 52 may be implemented, inwhole or in part, by the processing subsystem 56 executing software orother instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium,such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), a magneticstorage device, an optical storage device, or any other suitable type ofdata storage components. The CPRI interface 58 enables communicationbetween the REC 52 and the RRE 54 via a CPRI link. Notably, the REC 52typically includes additional components that are not illustrated inFIG. 6 such as, for example, one or more interfaces that enableconnection of the base station 38 to other base stations 38 and/or oneor more interfaces that enable connection of the base station 38 to thecore network 44 (FIG. 5).

The RRE 54 includes a radio subsystem 60 and a CPRI interface 62. Asdiscussed above, the REC 52 provides the digital baseband functionalityof the base station 38. The radio subsystem 60 generally provides theanalog functionality of the base station 38 (e.g., upconversion,filtering, and amplification). In operation, for the downlink direction,the RRE 54 receives digital baseband signals from the REC 52 via theCPRI interface 62. The radio subsystem 60 then processes the digitalbaseband signals to generate corresponding radio signals that aretransmitted by the RRE 54. Conversely, for the uplink direction, theradio subsystem 60 receives radio signals and generates correspondingbaseband signals. The baseband signals are provided to the REC 52 viathe CPRI interface 62. The baseband signals are then processed by theREC 52.

In addition to the radio subsystem 60 and the CPRI interface 62, the RRE54 includes a local wireless enabled RRE-Maintenance Tool (RRE-MT)subsystem 64 (hereinafter simply referred to as the “RRE-MT subsystem64”). In this embodiment, the RRE-MT subsystem 64 includes a controller66, a local wireless interface 68, a CPRI monitor control subsystem 70,a Light Emitting Diode (LED) status and control component 72, an alarmlist 74, and memory 76. The controller 66 may be implemented as any typeof controller such as, for example, a processor, an ASIC, a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA), or the like. In particular embodiments,the controller 66 may comprise, for example, one or severalgeneral-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors or othermicrocontrollers programmed with suitable software and/or firmware tocarry out some or all of the functionality of the controller 66described herein. In addition or alternatively, the controller 66 maycomprise various digital hardware blocks (e.g., one or more ASICs, oneor more off-the-shelf digital and analog hardware components, or acombination thereof) configured to carry out some or all of thefunctionality of the controller 66 described herein. Additionally, inparticular embodiments, the functionality of the controller 66 describedherein may be implemented, in whole or in part, by the controller 66executing software or other instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, such as RAM, ROM, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, or any other suitable type of data storagecomponents.

The local wireless interface 68 is generally any type of local wirelessinterface that enables a direct point-to-point local wireless connectionbetween the RRE 54 and the wireless device 50. In one embodiment, thelocal wireless interface 68 is an IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, or IEEE802.11n wireless interface. Notably, IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11gprovide ranges of about 95 meters (m) (i.e., 300 feet (ft)), whereasIEEE 802.11n provides a range of about 250 m. Further, the range of thelocal wireless interface 68 can be extended up to several kilometers byusing high gain directional antenna(s).

The CPRI monitor control subsystem 70 enables monitoring of the CPRIlink between the RRE 54 and the REC 52. In particular, the CPRI monitorcontrol subsystem 70 either activates or deactivates a CPRI monitoringsubsystem (not shown) under the control of the controller 66. The CPRImonitoring subsystem can be implemented at any suitable location withinthe RRE 54 (e.g., within the CPRI interface 62) and generally operatesto provide data that replicates traffic flow between the RRE 54 and theREC 52 over the CPRI link or some desired portion thereof (e.g., onlythe operations and management traffic). Thus, when the CPRI monitoringsubsystem is activated, the CPRI monitoring subsystem provides a streamof data to the CPRI monitor control subsystem 70 that corresponds to thetraffic flow, or the desired portion(s) of the traffic flow, between theRRE 54 and the REC 52 over the CPRI link. The CPRI monitor controlsubsystem 70 then provides the stream of data to the controller 66,which in turn can transmit the stream of data (i.e., the monitoredtraffic flow) to the wireless device 50 via the local wireless interface68.

The LED status and control component 72 includes status information, orstates (e.g., on, off, or blinking) of one or more LEDs of the RRE 54 aswell as circuitry (e.g., a driver circuit) that enables the controller66 to control the states of the LED(s) of the RRE 54. The alarm list 74includes a list of alarms or alarm codes generated by the RRE 54 underpredefined conditions. In general, the alarms are generated and storedin the alarm list 74 when some undesired event has occurred at the RRE54. Lastly, the memory 76 is preferably implemented in or as FLASHmemory or other non-volatile digital storage device that, in someembodiments, is used to store a physical location 78 of the RRE 54. Thephysical location 78 is data that defines the physical location of theRRE 54 in two-dimensional or three-dimensional space. In one preferredembodiment, the physical location 78 is a latitude and longitudecoordinate pair.

As discussed below in detail, the RRE-MT subsystem 64 can performnumerous maintenance operations and enables the wireless device 50 toremotely access these maintenance operations via a local wirelessconnection between the RRE 54 and the wireless device 50. Themaintenance operations that can be performed by the RRE-MT subsystem 64and remotely accessed by the wireless device 50 include, in thisexample, monitoring traffic flow on the CPRI link between the REC 52 andthe RRE 54 via the CPRI monitor control subsystem 70, reading alarmstates of the RRE 54 from the alarm list 74, and reading and/orcontrolling the state of the LED(s) of the RRE 54 via the LED status andcontrol component 72. In addition, in some embodiments, the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 enables the wireless device 50 to provide the physicallocation of the wireless device 50 to the RRE 54. The RRE-MT subsystem64 then stores the physical location of the wireless device 50 in thememory 76 as the physical location 78 of the RRE 54. This storing of thephysical location 78 is also referred to herein as a maintenanceoperation. Note, however, that the maintenance operations listed aboveare only examples. The RRE-MT subsystem 64 may perform additional oralternative maintenance operations as desired.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the wireless device 50 of FIG. 5 accordingto one embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated, thewireless device 50 includes a controller 80, a local wireless interface82, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver 83, and in thisembodiment a cellular network interface 84. In particular embodiments,the controller 80 may comprise, for example, one or severalgeneral-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors or othermicrocontrollers programmed with suitable software and/or firmware tocarry out some or all of the functionality of the controller 80described herein. In addition or alternatively, the controller 80 maycomprise various digital hardware blocks (e.g., one or more ASICs, oneor more off-the-shelf digital and analog hardware components, or acombination thereof) configured to carry out some or all of thefunctionality of the controller 80 described herein. Additionally, inparticular embodiments, the functionality of the controller 80 describedherein may be implemented, in whole or in part, by the controller 80executing software or other instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, such as RAM, ROM, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, or any other suitable type of data storagecomponents. In particular, in this embodiment, a RRE-MT 86 isimplemented in software and executed by the controller 80.

The RRE-MT 86 enables the wireless device 50 to access the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 of the RRE 54 via the local wireless interface 82. Thelocal wireless interface 82 is generally any type of local wirelessinterface that enables a direct point-to-point local wireless connectionbetween the wireless device 50 and the RRE 54. In one embodiment, thelocal wireless interface 82 is an IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, or IEEE802.11n wireless interface. The GPS receiver 83 operates to determine aphysical location of the wireless device 50. Note, however, that otherlocation determination mechanisms can be used and, as such, thedetermination of the physical location of the wireless device 50 is notlimited to the use of the GPS receiver 83. The cellular communicationsinterface 84 is optional and may, in some embodiments, be used by thewireless device 50 to send and receive information (i.e., voice and/ordata) via the cellular communications network 36 (FIG. 5).

In one embodiment, the wireless device 50 creates, or hosts, a localwireless hotspot 88 (hereinafter simply “hotspot 88”) via the localwireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50, as illustrated in FIG.8. In one preferred embodiment, the hotspot 88 is a WiFi hotspot. Whenthe RRE 54 is located within the hotspot 88, the local wirelessinterface 68 of the RRE 54 connects to the hotspot 88 to therebyestablish a local wireless connection with the wireless device 50.Preferably, the local wireless connection is a secure connection. Forexample, in one preferred embodiment, WPA2 is used to encrypt alltraffic in the hotspot 88. WPA2 is a full interoperable implementationof IEEE 802.11i, which makes use of the Advanced Encryption Standard(AES) block cipher. AES is a specification for the encryption ofelectronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standardsand Technology (NIST) in 2001. While not essential for understanding theconcepts disclosed and claimed herein, security may be further enhancedby an absence timer as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/674,309, which was filed Mar. 2, 2012 and is hereby incorporatedherein by reference with respect to its teachings related to securityenhancement using an absence timer. It should be noted that while thewireless device 50 hosts the hotspot 88 in the embodiment of FIG. 8 aswell as many of the embodiments discussed below, the hotspot 88 mayalternatively be hosted by the RRE 54. For security purposes, it may bebeneficial for the wireless device 50 to host the hotspot 88 where theRRE 54 listens for the hotspot 88. However, with enhanced securitymeasures such as pre-installed certificates, the hotspot 88 mayalternatively be hosted by the RRE 54 while still maintaining adesirable level of security.

FIG. 9 illustrates the operation of the wireless device 50 and the RRE54 of the base station 38-1 to provide remote access to the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 of the RRE 54 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. As illustrated, the wireless device 50 creates and hosts thehotspot 88 as illustrated with respect to FIG. 8 (step 1000). Morespecifically, the RRE-MT 86 of the wireless device 50 controls the localwireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50 to create and host thehotspot 88. Next, the local wireless interface 68 of the RRE 54 detectsthe hotspot 88 (step 1002). Upon detecting the hotspot 88, thecontroller 66 of the RRE-MT subsystem 64 of the RRE 54 controls thelocal wireless interface 68 to connect to the hotspot 88, therebyestablishing a local wireless connection between the RRE 54 and thewireless device 50 (step 1004). Connecting to the hotspot 88 preferablyrequires some security mechanism such as, for example, a passphrase, adigital certificate, or the like. If a passphrase is used, thepassphrase can be, but is not limited to, a predetermined passphrase forthe hotspot 88. Again, in an alternative embodiment, the hotspot 88 iscreated and hosted by the RRE 54. In this alternative embodiment, thewireless device 50 detects the hotspot 88 and, in response, connects tothe hotspot 88 to thereby establish a local wireless connection betweenthe wireless device 50 and the RRE 54.

Once the local wireless connection is established, a maintenance sessionis conducted via the local wireless connection (step 1006). Morespecifically, in one embodiment, preferably under control of an operatorof the wireless device 50, the RRE-MT 86 of the wireless device 50 sendsone or more maintenance requests to the RRE-MT subsystem 64 of the RRE54 via the local wireless connection in order to cause the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 of the RRE 54 to perform corresponding maintenanceoperations. The one or more maintenance requests may include a requestto monitor traffic flow between the RRE 54 and the REC 52 over the CPRIlink, a request to monitor the operation of the RRE 54, a request foralarms in the alarm list 74 of the RRE 54, a request for the state(s) ofthe LED(s) of the RRE 54, a request to change the state(s) of the LED(s)of the RRE 54, or the like. In one particular embodiment discussed belowin detail, the maintenance request is a request to store a providedphysical location in the memory 76 of the RRE 54 as the physicallocation 78 of the RRE 54. Again, the types of maintenance requestsgiven above are only examples. The present disclosure is not limitedthereto. For instance, some other types of maintenance requests that maybe made by the RRE-MT 86 include a request for a unique identifier ofthe RRE 54 (e.g., a serial number of the RRE 54), a request to reset theRRE 54, a request for the RRE 54 to provide transmit blocking, a requestto control transmit output power (e.g., a request to fine tune andcalibrate a transmit power level of the radio subsystem 60), a requestto adjust a CPRI block configuration for the CPRI link, or any type ofrequest to configure any subsystem of the RRE 54.

In response to the maintenance request, the RRE-MT subsystem 64 performsone or more actions indicated by the maintenance request. For instance,if the maintenance request is a request to monitor traffic flow over theCPRI link between the RRE 54 and the REC 52, the controller 66 causesthe CPRI monitor control subsystem 70 to activate the CPRI monitoringsubsystem. As a result of CPRI monitoring, the traffic flow between theRRE 54 and the REC 52 over the CPRI link, or some desired portionthereof (e.g., control and/or management data), is returned to thecontroller 66. The controller 66 then provides the monitored trafficflow to the wireless device 50 via the local wireless connection. At thewireless device 50, the RRE-MT 86 stores and/or presents the monitoredtraffic flow for analysis.

As another example, if the maintenance request is a request for alarmsin the alarm list 74 of the RRE 54, the controller 66 reads the alarmsfrom the alarm list 74 and returns the alarms to the wireless device 50via the local wireless connection. The RRE-MT 86 of the wireless device50 then stores the alarms and/or presents the alarms for analysis. Asanother example, if the maintenance request is a request for thestate(s) of the LED(s) of the RRE 54, the controller 66 reads thestate(s) of the LED(s) from the LED status and control component 72 andreturns the state(s) of the LED(s) to the wireless device 50 via thelocal wireless connection. The RRE-MT 86 then stores the state(s) and/orpresents the state(s) for analysis. As another example, if themaintenance request is a request to change the state(s) of the LED(s) ofthe RRE 54 (e.g., a request to blink the LED(s)), the controller 66causes the LED status and control component 72 to change the state(s) ofthe LED(s) accordingly.

Using the process of FIG. 9, the operator of the wireless device 50 isenabled to remotely perform various maintenance tasks without the needto physically access the RRE 54 by climbing a tower and/or accessingrental property. As a result, the operator of the wireless device 50 canperform maintenance operations in a much more cost and time efficientmanner. Further, risk to the operator and thus liability to the networkoperator is substantially reduced by avoiding the need to physicallyaccess the RRE 54 unless there is a need to uninstall the RRE 54 formaintenance or repair. This is a vast improvement over RREs that requirea wired connection to perform maintenance operations. Also, avoiding theneed for a physical connection port for maintenance operations reducesmaterial costs, decreases failure points, and eliminates the need tooccupy space on a faceplate of the RRE 54 for the physical connectionport.

Thus far, the discussion has focused on remote access to the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 of the RRE 54 via a local wireless connection. FIGS. 10through 13 illustrate embodiments in which the local wireless connectionis utilized to perform a particular maintenance operation, namely,storing a precise and accurate location of the RRE 54 as well assubsequently locating and identifying the RRE 54 when needed. Thismaintenance operation is particularly beneficial for embodiments wherethe base stations 38 are small, or low power, base stations 38 and, assuch, the RREs 54 are small, or low power, RREs 54. Thus, for thediscussion of FIGS. 10 through 13, the RREs 54 are referred to as sRREs54. However, it should be noted that while the discussion of FIGS. 10through 13 focuses on sRREs 54, the concepts described with respect toFIGS. 10 through 13 may additionally or alternatively be used for theRREs 54 of high power base stations 38.

FIG. 10 illustrates another embodiment of the cellular communicationsnetwork 36 that includes a number of base stations 38-1 through 38-7each including three sRREs 54 providing coverage for different sectors90, or coverage areas, within the corresponding cells 40-1 through 40-7served by the base stations 38-1 through 38-7 according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the basestations 38 are, for example, micro or pico base stations in aheterogeneous LTE network. The sRREs 54 for the cell 40-1 providecoverage for corresponding sectors 90-1A, 90-1B, and 90-1C within thecell 40-1, the sRREs 54 for the cell 40-2 provide coverage forcorresponding sectors 90-2A, 90-2B, and 90-2C, etc. The sectors 90-1Athrough 90-7C illustrated in FIG. 10 are more generally referred toherein as sectors 90. While not illustrated, the sRREs 54 for the cell40-1 are connected to a corresponding REC 52 of the base station 38-1,the sRREs 54 for the cell 40-2 are connected to a corresponding REC 52of the base station 38-2, and so on. Thus, in this embodiment, thebaseband processing for the three sRREs 54 in a cell 40 is centralizedat a single REC 52. However, in one alternative embodiment, each of thesRREs 54 may have its own REC 52.

FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of the wireless device 50 and one ofthe sRREs 54 of FIG. 10 to provide precise and accurate positioning ofthe sRRE 54 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thisprocess may be performed, for instance, during commissioning orinstallation of the sRREs 54. As illustrated, the wireless device 50creates and hosts the hotspot 88 in the manner discussed above (step2000). More specifically, the RRE-MT 86 of the wireless device 50controls the local wireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50 tocreate and host the hotspot 88. Next, the local wireless interface 68 ofthe sRRE 54 detects the hotspot 88 (step 2002). Upon detecting thehotspot 88, the controller 66 of the RRE-MT subsystem 64 of the sRRE 54controls the local wireless interface 68 to connect to the hotspot 88,thereby establishing a local wireless connection between the sRRE 54 andthe wireless device 50 (step 2004). Connecting to the hotspot 88preferably requires some security mechanism such as, for example, apassphrase, a digital certificate, or the like. If a passphrase is used,the passphrase can be, but is not limited to, a predetermined passphrasefor the hotspot 88. Again, in an alternative embodiment, the hotspot 88is created and hosted by the sRRE 54. In this alternative embodiment,the wireless device 50 detects the hotspot 88 and, in response, connectsto the hotspot 88 to thereby establish a local wireless connectionbetween the wireless device 50 and the sRRE 54.

In this embodiment, the wireless device 50 obtains a MAC address of thelocal wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 (step 2006). Morespecifically, the RRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 of the wirelessdevice 50 to obtain the MAC address of the local wireless interface 68of the sRRE 54 from the local wireless interface 82 of the wirelessdevice 50. While illustrated as a separate step for clarity and ease ofdiscussion, the local wireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50may obtain the MAC address of the local wireless interface 68 of thesRRE 54 when exchanging messages with the local wireless interface 82during setup of the local wireless connection. As discussed below, theMAC address of the local wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 isutilized as a unique identifier for the sRRE 54. However, the MACaddress of the local wireless interface 68 is only one example of aunique identifier for the sRRE 54. Any unique identifier of the sRRE 54may be used. For example, a serial number of the sRRE 54 mayalternatively be used. In this case, the wireless device 50 can send arequest for the unique identifier of the sRRE 54 (e.g., the serialnumber of the sRRE 54) to the sRRE 54 and receive the unique identifierof the sRRE 54 via the local wireless connection.

In addition, the RRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 of the wirelessdevice 50 to obtain the physical location of the wireless device 50(step 2008). In this embodiment, the physical location of the wirelessdevice 50 is obtained from the GPS receiver 83 of the wireless device50. However, again, the GPS receiver 83 is only an example. Otherlocation determination mechanisms may be used. Next, in this embodiment,the RRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 to send the physical locationof the wireless device 50 to the sRRE 54 as the physical location 78 ofthe sRRE 54 (step 2010). More specifically, in one embodiment, theRRE-MT 86 sends a maintenance request to the RRE-MT subsystem 64 of thesRRE 54 to store a provided physical location, which is the physicallocation of the wireless device 50 obtained in step 2008), as thephysical location 78 of the sRRE 54. In response, the RRE-MT subsystem64 of the sRRE 54 stores the physical location provided by the wirelessdevice 50 in the memory 76 as the physical location 78 of the sRRE 54(step 2012). The physical location 78 of the sRRE 54 may then beutilized by the RRE 54 and/or the cellular communications network 36 inany desired manner. For example, a main operation office of the cellularcommunications network 36 may request the physical location 78 of thesRRE 54 via the CPRI link with the REC 52. It should be noted that steps2010 and 2012 are not necessary. Thus, in some embodiments, the physicallocation of the wireless device 50 is not provided to and stored by thesRRE 54 as the physical location 78 of the sRRE 54.

At the wireless device 50, the RRE-MT 86 further instructs thecontroller 80 to update a remote database with the MAC address of thelocal wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 (or other unique identifierof the sRRE 54) and the physical location 78 of the sRRE 54 (step 2014).Again, the physical location 78 of the sRRE 54 is the physical locationof the wireless device 50 obtained in step 2008. The MAC address servesto resolve ambiguity if multiple sRREs 54 are at the same physicallocation. The manner in which the remote database is updated may varydepending on the particular implementation. In one embodiment, theRRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 to communicate the MAC address andthe physical location of the sRRE 54 to the remote database via thecellular network interface 84 of the wireless device 50. In anotherembodiment, the RRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 to store the MACaddress and the physical location of the sRRE 54 for subsequent transferto the remote database.

In one embodiment, the remote database is a planning and inventorydatabase maintained by an operator of the cellular communicationsnetwork 36. As such, using the process of FIG. 11, the planning andinventory database provides an up-to-date view of the cellularcommunications network 36. Using the planning and inventory database,any unintentional error such as the installation of an sRRE 54 at aphysical location other than the planned physical location can beimmediately detected at the time of installation.

Using the process of FIG. 11, precise and accurate locations of thesRREs 54 are maintained in the remote database. Thus, even if the sRREs54 are deployed or installed at physical locations other than thoseoriginally planned, the process of FIG. 11 can be used by maintenance orfield support personnel during installation to quickly and easily recordthe physical locations of the sRREs 54 at the time of installation. Thephysical locations of the sRREs 54 maintained in the remote database cansubsequently be used to locate and identify sRREs 54 of interest. Inthis regard, FIG. 12 illustrates a process for locating and identifyingan sRRE 54 of interest using the physical location and MAC address ofthe sRRE 54 previously obtained via the process of FIG. 11 according toone embodiment of the present disclosure.

During service, when it is desired to locate and identify one of thesRREs 54, a maintenance or field support person obtains the physicaladdress and the MAC address of the sRRE 54 from the remote database. Forexample, a ticket may be provided to the maintenance or field supportperson, where the ticket includes the physical location and the MACaddress of an sRRE 54 to be serviced. The operator of the wirelessdevice 50 (e.g., the maintenance or field support person) then goes tothe physical location of the sRRE 54 to be serviced.

Once at the physical location of the sRRE 54 to be serviced, thewireless device 50 creates the wireless hotspot 88 (step 3000). Morespecifically, the RRE-MT 86 of the wireless device 50 controls the localwireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50 to create and host thehotspot 88. Next, the local wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 detectsthe hotspot 88 (step 3002). Upon detecting the hotspot 88, thecontroller 66 of the RRE-MT subsystem 64 of the sRRE 54 controls thelocal wireless interface 68 to connect to the hotspot 88, therebyestablishing a local wireless connection between the sRRE 54 and thewireless device 50 (step 3004). Connecting to the hotspot 88 preferablyrequires some security mechanism such as, for example, a passphrase, adigital certificate, or the like. If a passphrase is used, thepassphrase can be, but is not limited to, a predetermined passphrase forthe hotspot 88. Again, in an alternative embodiment, the hotspot 88 iscreated and hosted by the sRRE 54. In this alternative embodiment, thewireless device 50 detects the hotspot 88 and, in response, connects tothe hotspot 88 to thereby establish a local wireless connection betweenthe wireless device 50 and the sRRE 54.

The wireless device 50 also obtains a MAC address of the local wirelessinterface 68 of the sRRE 54 (step 3006). More specifically, the RRE-MT86 instructs the controller 80 of the wireless device 50 to obtain theMAC address of the local wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 from thelocal wireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50. While illustratedas a separate step for clarity and ease of discussion, the localwireless interface 82 of the wireless device 50 may obtain the MACaddress of the local wireless interface 68 of the sRRE 54 whenexchanging messages with the local wireless interface 82 during setup ofthe local wireless connection. Again, it should be noted that the MACaddress of the local wireless interface 68 is only one example of aunique identifier for the sRRE 54. Any unique identifier of the sRRE 54may be used. For example, a serial number of the sRRE 54 mayalternatively be used. In this case, the wireless device 50 can send arequest for the unique identifier of the sRRE 54 (e.g., the serialnumber of the sRRE 54) to the sRRE 54 and receive the unique identifierof the sRRE 54 via the local wireless connection.

If the MAC address (or other unique identifier) of the sRRE 54 does notmatch the MAC address of the sRRE 54 to be serviced, then thisparticular sRRE 54 is not the sRRE 54 to be serviced. This may occur ininstallations where, for example, multiple sRREs 54 are installed at thesame physical location (e.g., mounted on the same pole or mast) or wheremultiple sRREs 54 are within local wireless range of the wireless device50. However, in this example, the MAC address of the sRRE 54 matches theMAC address of the sRRE 54 to be serviced.

Next, in this embodiment, in order for the operator of the wirelessdevice 50 to visually identify the sRRE 54 of interest, the RRE-MT 86instructs the controller 80 of the wireless device 50 to send a blinkrequest to the sRRE 54 (step 3008). In this embodiment, the blinkrequest is provided in the form of a maintenance request to the RRE-MTsubsystem 64 of the sRRE 54. In response, the controller 66 of theRRE-MT subsystem 64 of the sRRE 54 controls one or more of the LED(s) ofthe sRRE 54 to blink such that the operator of the sRRE 54 can visuallyidentify the sRRE 54 of interest (step 3010). Again, this may bebeneficial when, for example, multiple sRREs 54 are installed on thesame pole or mast or are otherwise deployed at or near the same physicallocation. At this point, if desired, a maintenance session may beconducted in the manner described above (step 3012).

FIG. 13 illustrates one example of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) 92of the RRE-MT 86 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.As illustrated, when an Identity tab 94 is selected, the GUI 92 presentsthe physical location of the wireless device 50 obtained from the GPSreceiver 83, the MAC address of the sRRE 54 to which the wireless device50 is connected, and various information obtained from a lookup for theMAC address of the sRRE 54 (e.g., hardware ID, software ID, etc.). Ifthe operator of the wireless device 50 desires to send the physicallocation of the wireless device 50 to the sRRE 54 to be stored as thephysical location 78 of the sRRE 54, the operator selects a Save GPSbutton 96. Upon selecting the Save GPS button 96, the physical location(i.e., the GPS location) of the wireless device 50 is sent to the sRRE54 via the local wireless connection where the physical location isstored as the physical location 78 of the sRRE 54. Further, if theoperator of the wireless device 50 desires to update the remote databasewith the MAC address and the physical location of the sRRE 54, theoperator selects an Update dB button 98. In response, in thisembodiment, the RRE-MT 86 instructs the controller 80 to update theremote database with the MAC address and the physical location of thesRRE 54. Still further, if the operator desires to blink one or moreLED(s) of the sRRE 54 for visual identification of the sRRE 54, theoperator selects a Blink button 100. In response, the RRE-MT 86instructs the controller 80 to send a maintenance request to blink theLED(s) of the sRRE 54 via the local wireless connection.

Lastly, the GUI 92 includes an LED tab 102 and an ALM tab 104. Theoperator of the wireless device 50 can select the LED tab 102 to viewstatus information for the LED(s) of the sRRE 54 which, as discussedabove, can be obtained from the sRRE 54 via the local wirelessconnection using a corresponding maintenance request. Similarly, theoperator of the wireless device 50 can select the ALM tab 104 to viewany alarms obtained from the sRRE 54 via the local wireless connectionusing a corresponding maintenance request.

While not limited by any particular advantages, the embodiments of FIGS.10 through 13 provide numerous advantages over conventional techniquesfor locating and identifying sRREs 54 of interest. For instance, theembodiments of FIGS. 10 through 13 simplify management of sRRE 54locations particularly in an ad-hoc network and give the ability totrack lost or misplaced sRREs 54. In addition, by further using theremote maintenance operations discussed with respect to FIGS. 5 through9, maintenance or field support personnel are enabled to quickly andeasily assess the sRREs 54 before having to arrange for equipment (e.g.,scaffolding or a hydraulic lift) to reach the sRREs 54.

As a final note, while embodiments described above focus on the RREs 54and the sRREs 54, the concepts described herein are not limited to RREs.More specifically, the concepts described herein are equally applicableto REs and small REs that are co-located with their corresponding RECs.

The following acronyms are used throughout this disclosure.

-   -   3GPP 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project    -   AES Advanced Encryption Standard    -   ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit    -   BS Base Station    -   CPRI Common Public Radio Interface    -   FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array    -   ft Foot    -   GPRS General Packet Radio Service    -   GPS Global Positioning System    -   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications    -   GUI Graphical User Interface    -   HSPA High Speed Packet Access    -   km Kilometer    -   LED Light Emitting Diode    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   m Meter    -   MAC Media Access Control    -   MME Mobility Management Entity    -   MT Mobile Terminal    -   NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology    -   RAM Random Access Memory    -   RAN Radio Access Network    -   REC Radio Equipment Controller    -   ROM Read Only Memory    -   RE Radio Equipment    -   RRE Remote Radio Equipment    -   RRE-MT Remote Radio Equipment Maintenance Tool    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   W Watt    -   WD Wireless Device

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A radio equipment of a base station of a cellularcommunications network, comprising: a radio subsystem that transmits andreceives radio signals for the cellular communications network; a localwireless interface; and a controller associated with the local wirelessinterface that is configured to: provide access to a maintenancesubsystem of the radio equipment via a local wireless connection betweenthe radio equipment and a wireless device established via the localwireless interface by being configured to: receive a physical locationof the wireless device via the local wireless connection; and store thephysical location of the wireless device as a physical location of theradio equipment; receive a maintenance request from the wireless devicevia the local wireless connection; and in response to receiving themaintenance request, perform one or more actions indicated by themaintenance request where the one or more actions are selected from thegroup consisting of: monitoring traffic flow between the radio equipmentand an associated radio equipment controller and returning resultingmonitored traffic flow data to the wireless device via the localwireless connection; obtaining a status of the radio equipment andreturning the status of the radio equipment to the wireless device viathe local wireless connection; resetting the radio equipment; providingtransmit blocking; providing transmit output control; obtaining a stateof one or more LEDs of the radio equipment and returning the state ofthe one or more LEDs to the wireless device via the local wirelessconnection; controlling the state of the one or more LEDs of the radioequipment; and monitoring operation of the radio equipment and providingresulting monitoring data to the wireless device via the local wirelessconnection.
 2. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein the controller isfurther configured to control the local wireless interface to connect toa hotspot hosted by the wireless device to thereby establish the localwireless connection between the radio equipment and the wireless device.3. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to control the local wireless interface to create a hotspot,wherein the wireless device connects to the hotspot to thereby establishthe local wireless connection between the radio equipment and thewireless device.
 4. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein thecontroller is further configured to enable the wireless device to accessthe maintenance subsystem to monitor the radio equipment via the localwireless interface.
 5. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein thecontroller is further configured to enable the wireless device to accessthe maintenance subsystem to monitor traffic flow between the radioequipment and the associated radio equipment controller via the localwireless interface.
 6. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein thecontroller is further configured to enable the wireless device to accessthe maintenance subsystem to have local control of the radio equipmentvia the local wireless interface.
 7. The radio equipment of claim 1wherein the one or more actions is monitoring traffic flow between theradio equipment and the associated radio equipment controller andreturning the resulting monitored traffic flow data to the wirelessdevice via the local wireless connection.
 8. The radio equipment ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more actions is obtaining the status of theradio equipment and returning the status of the radio equipment to thewireless device via the local wireless connection.
 9. The radioequipment of claim 1 wherein the one or more actions is resetting theradio equipment.
 10. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein the one ormore actions is providing transmit blocking.
 11. The radio equipment ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more actions is obtaining the state of one ormore LEDs of the radio equipment and returning the state of the one ormore LEDs to the wireless device via the local wireless connection. 12.The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein the one or more actions iscontrolling the state of the one or more LEDs of the radio equipment.13. The radio equipment of claim 1 wherein the one or more actions ismonitoring the operation of the radio equipment and providing theresulting monitoring data to the wireless device via the local wirelessconnection.
 14. A method of operation of a radio equipment of a basestation in a cellular communications network, comprising: establishing alocal wireless connection to a wireless device via a local wirelessinterface of the radio equipment by: receiving a physical location ofthe wireless device via the local wireless connection; and storing thephysical location of the wireless device as a physical location of theradio equipment; receiving a maintenance request from the wirelessdevice via the local wireless connection; and in response to receivingthe maintenance request, performing one or more actions indicated by themaintenance request where the one or more actions are selected from agroup consisting of: monitoring traffic flow between the radio equipmentand an associated radio equipment controller and returning resultingmonitored traffic flow data to the wireless device via the localwireless connection; obtaining a status of the radio equipment andreturning the status of the radio equipment to the wireless device viathe local wireless connection; resetting the radio equipment; providingtransmit blocking; providing transmit output control; obtaining a stateof one or more LEDs of the radio equipment and returning the state ofthe one or more LEDs to the wireless device via the local wirelessconnection; controlling the state of the one or more LEDs of the radioequipment; and monitoring operation of the radio equipment and providingresulting monitoring data to the wireless device via the local wirelessconnection.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein establishing the localwireless connection to the wireless device comprises connecting to ahotspot hosted by the wireless device.
 16. The method of claim 14wherein establishing the local wireless connection to the wirelessdevice comprises establishing a hotspot, and the local wirelessconnection is a result of the wireless device connecting to the hotspot.17. A wireless device comprising: a local wireless interface; and acontroller associated with the local wireless interface configured to:obtain a physical location of the wireless device; send the physicallocation of the wireless device to the radio equipment as a physicallocation of the radio equipment via a local wireless connectionestablished between the wireless device and the radio equipment; accessa maintenance subsystem of a radio equipment of a base station of acellular communications network via the local wireless connection viathe local wireless interface; and send a maintenance request to themaintenance subsystem of the radio equipment of the base station via thelocal wireless connection where the maintenance request is selected fromthe group consisting of: a request to reset the radio equipment; arequest for the radio equipment to provide transmit blocking; a transmitoutput control request; a request to control a state of one or more LEDsof the radio equipment; a request to monitor traffic flow between theradio equipment and an associated radio equipment controller; a requestfor a status of the radio equipment; a request for a state of one ormore LEDs of the radio equipment and returning the state of the one ormore LEDs to the wireless device via the local wireless connection; anda request to monitor operation of the radio equipment.
 18. The wirelessdevice of claim 17 wherein, in order to establish the local wirelessconnection, the controller is further configured to: create a hotspotvia the local wireless interface, where the local wireless connection isa connection to the hotspot.
 19. The wireless device of claim 17wherein, in order to establish the local wireless connection, thecontroller is further configured to: connect to a hotspot hosted by theradio equipment via the local wireless interface to thereby establishthe local wireless connection between the wireless device and the radioequipment.
 20. The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the controller isfurther configured to update a remote database to include the physicallocation of the wireless device as the physical location of the radioequipment.
 21. The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the controller isfurther configured to: obtain a unique identifier of the radioequipment; and update a remote database to include the unique identifierof the radio equipment and the physical location of the wireless deviceas the physical location of the radio equipment.